Sierra Loop - Lone Pine Museum of Western Film History - Saturday, September 8, 2018

Waning Crescent Moon

The mercury skyrocketed to a hundred degrees after leaving Manzanar. My plan (not a real plan) to scamper up Mt. Whitney and back this afternoon was eighty-sixed in favor of ducking into the Museum of Western Film History on the south end of Lone Pine. Wayyyy better. Wise choice haha.

If you are of a certain age, this museum might be as much fun as you can have for $5 in the 21st century. And yes, I am of a certain age, thank you. Practically every TV hero of my lily white 1950s childhood is on display here, including my personal favorite, Roy Rogers. I never really understood the appeal of Dale Evans. She was nice enough, I suppose, and she had that horse named Buttermilk, but other than singing bible songs on occasion, there was not much character development happening on her side of the buckwagon. Sign of the times, I guess.

Cardboard cutout cutesy cowpeople.

The museum is really really air-conditioned, so even if you aren't predisposed to look at every display and recall all the episodes on TV and film, wandering around the place is very pleasant. I did a little of both.

Sadly, my phone camera photo of the Cisco Kid did not turn out to be post-worthy, even on this lil old blog. Here's why I was sad. When I was about four years old, my family went to Knott's Berry Farm near our home in Anaheim and I got to meet the Cisco Kid in person. He had a real pistola and he rode around on his horse Diablo firing off blanks and raising all kinds of exciting hell. After a while, he pulled up to where I was, dismounted, and gave me one of the spent cartridges from his six gun and an autographed 8 x 10 glossy picture of him and Diablo. I still have the cartridge. The picture got lost somewhere along the weird trail of my life since then. Relax and check out this Cisco Kid episode on YouTube. It has a very loyal dog.

https://youtu.be/UP_C0RHHhvU

Here is a picture of Gene Autrey, who was not anywhere near as cool as the Cisco Kid, but was many times more successful in movies, TV, music, and business. Sign of the times, I guess.

Gene Autrey strumming a C chord. Give him credit. He could yodel.

In case you were wondering why the heck this museum is in Lone Pine, CA, the answer is because HUNDREDS of western films were made here, especially in the Alabama Hills west of town. With the High Sierra as a backdrop, there was no limit to the shoot-em up scenes you could create here, plus it is really close to Hollywood. Check out their web site to get the whole panorama of movies featuring the scenery of Lone Pine and vicinity. Even Bogey did a few.

How many times have you seen Bogey smoke and smirk?

This stage coach was in a lot of movies. Probably the real ones were not this pretty.

I left after watching a fifteen minute highlight movie of all the different types of films made in Lone Pine. This is a great, fun stop on U.S. 395 and I hope everybody gets to see it some time in their lives. But whatever you do, don't pick up The Hitch-Hiker! Unless it happens to be me, of course.

Peace, Love, and Fantasy,

Jim

TBC